HSUS’s Pork Checkoff Case Featured on Our Hen House
Hi all,
HSUS’s pork checkoff lawsuit was featured on Our Hen House this week. Matt Penzer from the litigation department discusses the case, in which were are trying to stop USDA from giving pork lobbyists $60,000,000 to lobby against animal welfare reforms. The podcast is available here: http://www.ourhenhouse.org/2015/09/animal-law-podcast-4-pork-check-off-litigation-with-matt-penzer/. The portion dedicated to our lawsuit begins at about 16:25.
In the podcast, Matt describes how funds from the pork checkoff program, which is overseen by USDA, are being unlawfully funneled away from generic pork promotion activities to the industry’s private trade group, the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), for use in lobbying against animal interests. Specifically, the pork checkoff funds have been redirected to the Big Ag-focused lobbyists at NPPC under the guise of buying the rights to the old Pork the Other White Meat slogan—which was developed using pork checkoff funds in the first place (how do you “buy” something that you paid to produce?) and which has been replaced by a new slogan (why would you buy something that no longer has any value?).
Sounds shady, right? Give a listen to the podcast if you have a chance.
| Ralph Henry Director, Animal Protection Litigation rhenry t 202.676.2324 f 202.676.2357 The Humane Society of the United States |